It's the first time Lefkofsky has spoken to the press since taking over. In fact, it's the first time he's been heard from in months—since, Spiers reports, he was on a two-month sabbatical in southeast Asia.

Before that, he'd been cutting back considerably on his involvement in Groupon in favor of Lightbank, a venture-capital firm he started with Groupon cofounder and board member Brad Keywell.

That's changed. He told Spiers that he's resigned his other board seats and is "100% focused" and "full-time" on Groupon.

Lefkofsky had previously resigned from the board of InnerWorkings, a print-services business he cofounded, in October 2012. He's still listed as a board member of Mediaocean, an advertising-technology company which resulted from the merger of two companies, one of which Lefkofsky founded. That could well be an oversight, since the changes at Groupon have all happened fairly quickly.

Spokespeople for Mediaocean and for Lefkofsky did not immediately return requests for comment.